Thirteen

"My parents went on their first date on August 3, 1957. They went to the Moscow Circus, which was touring Athens at the time. Bicycles with one wheel, with two or three girls leaping onto the rider's back. Magicians, fire-eaters, wild beasts and animal tamers. Beasts? Polar bears, that is? Felines? Elephants? Cobras swaying as they emerged from their baskets? Were there clowns? Ensembles of traditional dances from across the vast Soviet territory?
That's where they kissed for the first time. Alexandros, very tall and sturdy, bent over Niki, hoping she wouldn't pull away or turn her cheek. When she gave him her lips, he must have been flooded with triumphant joy.
I was born exactly nine years later, on August 3, 1966.
And I-like all of us, probably-am a circus too. Constantly staging spectacles, inventing acts, taming as best I can the wild beasts within... And enjoying the grand show even without an audience. Even when my lions and acrobats go hungry..."
Christos Chomenidis takes a deep dive into the first thirteen years of his life, from 1966 to 1979. In a Greece battered by events, suffering and rejoicing, sometimes shouting, sometimes remaining thunderously silent. An entire era which-even if it seems distant-insists on conversing with the present. Images and sounds, tastes and aromas, heroic and comical figures weave their stories into the fabric of History.
"Thirteen" can be read as a continuation of Niki. At the same time, it stands entirely on its own. And it shows us how we can craft myths even when we remain absolutely faithful to reality.